It

It by Stephen King

Narrator by Steven Weber

Duration - 45 hours (seriously)

Stephen King is the master of horror, or so they say, right? I don't think I've said this here but I'm not the biggest fan of scary. I'm more a spoopy kind of guy. It's just that I have fun with scary things at the time but they tend to linger longer than not. I think, "oh nonsense! That isn't scary...now if it was this that would be scary." Queue a difficult time falling asleep.

As a brief aside, the thing that got me over my fear of clowns was Ringling Bros. - How to be A Clown. It went into the nuances of clown makeup and what it takes to be a serious clown. For example, you have to be careful to apply lip makeup on the lower lip only so it doesn't make a monstrous mouth. So now if I see a murderous clown and its makeup is poorly done, I think, "you're not a murderous clown, you're just a murderous person..." Somehow that sits better. Anyway, back to the book.

It was, for many, a hallmark of childhood trauma. And I'm not talking about just the book but the movie (the one with Tim Curry). I can't tell you how many people I've met over the years who hate clowns because of that movie. The story is centered on a small town in Maine. About 30 years ago there were a series of murders local children and, now, the murders have started again. A group of children who survived pledged to come back and fight the thing that is murdering children. The story is intermixed with the characters return and flashbacks. There is a good balance between the two too.

It's a long one for sure, and for full transparency I didn't actually finish it. As I said, I'm not a fan of scary things and, while, it wasn't the scariest book I've ever read (House of Leaves has that honor) it kept me up one too many nights.

While it is lengthy, it doesn't feel it. There is a quickness and a good rhythm to his writing that keeps your attention. While it was scary, it was indeed fun to listen to. King does a really good job of the writing the perspective of both adults and children. I can’t stand it when kids’ dialog is clearly written by an adult.

Would I recommend It? Sure, I suppose so; if you like scary things but if you don't, meh. There are a lot of other well written books out there if scary isn't your cup of tea.

A bit of a spoiler warning for this next part.

One of the reasons why I was more ok with dropping It was because once it because clear that It is an alien that uses the thing you're afraid of to catch you, then the book shifts to a hunt. I read and seen Harry Potter so I'm well antiquated with fighting boggarts.